Basin-forming attachment for disk plows



March 31, 1953 A. G. MUIRHEAD 3 BASIN-FORMING ATTACHMENT FOR DISK FLOWSFiled 001;. 27. 1947 HQ 4 MS armeusra Patented Mar. 31, 1953 BASIN-FORMING ATTACHIWENT FOR DISK PLOWS Alan G. Muirhead, Pittsworth,Queensland,

Australia Application October 27, 1947, Serial No. 782,417

a In Australia June 19, 1945 Sectionl, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946Patent expires June 19, 1965 2 Claims. (Cl. 55-30) The object of thisinvention is to provide means whereby the soil, loosened by amultl-disc'cultivator plow, upon a hill-side, or sloping piece ofground, may be simultaneously formed' into basins or pockets, for thepurpose of holding rainwater and preventing a downpour of rain fromrunning away and being lost, thus conserving moisture in the soil.Another object is to provide-means whereby the soil may be formed sothat the rain will remain Where it falls and pro-- vent erosion on hillyor sloping land.

" The'nature of the invention will be fully understood from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawingsv Figure 1 is a plan of apparatus embodying the invention, saidapparatus being shown in relation to the relevant parts of a well knowntwindisc plow; i

Figure 2 is a detail view of a modified disc;

V Figure 3 is a detail View of the means for looking two sliding tubularmembers of a stay together; and Y l Figures 4 and 5 are detail views offastening means. i

The invention may be applied to standard multi-disc plows preferablyhaving the series of discs in pairs, and according to the inventionasquare shaft has upon it a series of modified discs or cutters ll heldat the correct distance apart thereon by spacers such as short lengthsof piping. These modified discs ll may be secured to said shaft ll! bythe usual discbearing bosses l2 which are distancedby the spacers. Thesquare shaft I0 is rounded and threaded at the left hand end and isprovided with a retaining pin at the opposite end. Two lock nuts, whentightened up, clamp the modified discs ll,bear-' ing bosses I2, spacers42 and bearing dust exclu-ders 41 together, so giving added strength andrigidity to the assem-bly. As an example, it has been found that afourteen disc plow would require four modified discs I I, and a ten discplow would require three modified discs H. The said square shaft I0 istherefore of a length to accommodate the required number'of modifieddiscs I! and is held in end bearings l3 and M. The right hand bearing 93is carried at the end of a bar 15 of angle, channel, tubular or othersuitable section, the: other end of said bar I being secured to thecolumn E6 of the front wheel-axle of the blow. This bar 15 is fitted atits. rear endto bracket 26, attached to right hand bearing 13. The lefthand end of the said square shaft I0 is ahead of the right hand endthereof, and

whereas the latter is approximately at the rear of the right'handtwin-disc, the former is approximately behind the twin-disc secondfrom angle the larger are the basins formed and vice versa. The lefthand end of the modified disc shaft I 0 is not rigidly connected to theplow framework II, but by chain [8 and rod l9 or the like, and is notcarried by wheels but by the modified discs II. One chain or rod I9extends from the rear of the plow framework, to the end of the left handend of shaft l0, and takes the side'drau'ght of theshaft '10, theotherchain l8 extending from a bracket 18a equipped with a ramshorn orspiral hook on the framework l1 above and between the third and fourthpairs of twin-discs to a point at the front of the boss 12 of the'saiddisc I] and takes the forward draught of the left hand end of the shaftl0. 'The said discs or cutters Il may be modified in several ways, onebeing touse only half a disc, another to use opposed sectors (seeFigured) each being approximately one quarter of the disc ll.Thesemodlfied discs aremountedupon their square shaft 10 so that thesectors are alternately at right angles'to one another; orifsemi-circles are used,; they are mounted alternately at to oneanother. h L As sho wn in the drawings'the rod t5 consists of two tubesor round section rods whose ends overlap and are held in parallel by'sleeves'20. Each tube 15 hasone of the'sleeves'20 rigidly held by abolt or rivet 2| near its end. This prevents the sleeves 20 from movingand 'jambing slidingthern through the sleeves 20. Right angled levers 22have one of their ends threaded and pointed 'and adapted to pass throughthreaded bosses 23 so that the points 24 will wedge themselvesbetwee'ntubes l5 and hold the tubes l5 securely in said sleeves 20, Bythese means the distance between the right hand end of shaft l0 and thepost t6 may be made variable. It will be understood that'the draught ofthe tubes l5 while they are beingadjuste-d by the right hand end ofsquare shaft I0 tends to lengthen rods l5 and slide them through sleeves20. Should this occur, aclockwise rolling motion is imparted to thetapered pins '24 by the rods l5, so automatically screwing tapered'points 24 of right angled lever 22 further through threaded boss 23,and jambing pipes I5 tighter in sleeves thev soil to one side.

20. In other cases where both tension and compression loads may occur,sleeves may be arranged so that one will tend to tighten from thetension loads and: the. other from the compression loads; This isachieved by arranging sleeves 20 so that their right angled levers 24are on opposite sides of the pipes 15 to each other. The forward end ofthis composite rod I5 is secured to said post l6 by an U-bolt and plate,which with a D-shackle forms an universal joint, or-other like fastening25. The rear end, of the said composite rod I5 is secured to the bearingI3 at the end of shaft I0 by an angular bracket 25 and a spring loadedpin 2'! (see Figure 4). The bracket 26 (see Figure 1) is secured to saidbearing I3 by bolts 28 and the free end is flattened and provided with ahole.

Each said pin 21 at its upper end has a handle 29, and the pin 21 passesthrough a hole in a right angled bracket 36 upon a base 3| which isbifurcated at 32 to accommodate the flattened end of bracket 25. Acompression. spring 33 around. pin- 2!- is held between bracket and base3|. In connecting the end of rod IE to shaft [0-, the flattened end ofbracket 26 is placedin the bifurcated end of base 3|, whilst the pin 21is in an. upward position. When allowed to descend; the pin 2! passesdown through. the holes in the bifurcated end of the base 3| and thehole in the flattened end of bracket 26. As shownin Figure- 1; abase 3|is attached to the end of rod [5, and a base 31 is attached to rod [9,the pin 21' passing through a hole in the yoke 34.

A suitable quick acting safety hook forconnecting the chain It to theyoke 3t is shownv in detail in. Figure 5/ and consists of a bar 35 ofJ-shape with a bar 36 pivotally connected at 31 towards its-outer end tothe bent end 38 so that when the chain I8 (which is attached in hole 39of bar 36) is taut, the said bar as will. be. ap-

proximately in line with the shorter section of the J-bar 3:5 with theirends closely adjacent. This is achieved by bar 36 being bent betweenpivot hole 31' and draught chain hole 39', in the opposite direction tothe, hook on the J-piece.

Thus: when the draught chain I8 is taut, the right angled stop- 4!}: onthe bar 36 is forced hard against the J-piece 35. The pivot at 31: mayconsist of' a bolt with ,a spring washer under its head at onev side,and lock nuts, or a castle nut and cotter pin on the other side. Thehinge may thus be adjusted so that it is just possibleto open the hook'with the. hands. This feature prevents possible unhooking if the draughtchain should slacken.

In use the multi-disc plow is drawn along and cultivates the soil in theusual manner. The modified discs H- (sometimes known as basin listerattachments) are rotated in unison by their square shaft It. Whilst therearmost modified disc H and every second one from it is in the groundthey are forming a depression and lifting Simultaneously the alternatemodified discs H are being carried above thesoil' and-allowing a hill toremain. With each half rotation of the shaft i0 semi-circularattachments would be forming one depression and one hill in line across,so that When the shaft H! has revolved. many times there will be adepression. between four hills and vice versa; in other words the fieldwill be checkered with hills and, depressions, in which depressions therain is: held and prevented from running or flowing downhill. This rainis enabled to soak the soil and subsoil and much moisture is therebyconserved; in addition to which erosion is prevented. Soil fallowed inthis manner is greatly improved and better growth is subsequentlypromoted.

When two sectors of adisc H are used there will be four lines aheadformed with each rotation of the disc I I; and it will be understoodthat other modifications of the discs II or cutters may be used whilstaccomplishing the purposes of' the. invention. For example, it will befound that satisfactory results will be obtained withtwin-modified-discs. The spacing of the modified discs I l or cuttersshould be such that there will not be channels or gaps between thedepressions, and the modified discs l l or cutters should be so disposedas to throw the soil in an opposite direction to the soil thrown by thediscs upon the plow. Thus the side draught set up by the modified discsH assists the plow in its work by countering the side draught of theplow.

There are two convenient methods of transporting this basinlisterattachment in conjunction, with its plow. The first and easiest fortransporting from one field t another, over comparatively smooth land,is by means of adjusting the length of the tubes !5, so that the squareshaft [0 is at a right angle. to the line of advance of the plow. Thispermits the modified discs to assume the purpose of. wheels and rollover the ground without cutting into it. The side draught rod. I9 thenserves a dual purpose in preventing the square shaft ID from creeping toeither side, thus ensuring that it runs straight behind the plow. Theattachment cannot run up on to the plow when descending hills because itis held back on the right hand side by tubular rods 15, and if the lefthand side tends to run up, the square shaft iii tendsto resume itsworking position and the modified discs H cut into the soil and arearrested.

In the second transporting method for longer journeys over rougherground, the two spring loaded plungers 2'! and hook 35 are released.Rods l5 and 19 are hinged up on t the frame of the plow, and chain italso stowed on the plow frame. Square shaft 10, complete with modifieddiscs H, is then lifted and laid along on top of the line of plow discsand parallel with this line. Two short chains 43 then secure theassembly to the frame of the plow. These chains 4.3 arepermanentlyattached to the frame of the plow for this purpose.

I claim:

1. Improved means for cultivating sloping ground, comprising a shaft forrotatable attachment by draught .means to the rear of a multidisc plow,a series of. modified discs fixed to and spaced: along said shaft, sothat alternate modified discs alternately-form hills and those betweenforrn valleys upon rotation of the shaft behindv the moving plow, saidshaft being set at an. angle to the furrows formed by said plow such.that the side draught set up by the modified discs will counteract theside draught of the plow, a multi-part sectional draught rod connectingone endof the plow with one end of the shaft, adjustable meansconnecting the sections of said draught rod to increase or decrease thelength thereof to adjust the angle of the shaft with respect to theplow, a laterally extending means fixed to the opposite end of the plowadjacent the respective opposite end of the shaft, a plurality of.draught means connecting said opposite end. of the shaft to the plow,one of said draught means being rigid and fastened at one end to saidlaterally extending means, another of said draught lines being flexibleand fastened at one end to an intermediate point between the oppositeends of said plow, and common means for connecting the opposite ends ofsaid plurality of draught means to the adjacent end of the shaft. 2. Theimproved means for cultivating sloping ground as set forth in claim 1,in which the ends of the plurality of draught means are adjustablyconnected to the common attaching means.

ALAN G. MUIRHEAD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number 15 20,2'70/ 10 Date Name Wilberg May23, 1905 Standley July 26, 1938 Benjamin Nov. 15, 1938 Miller et al Mar.19, 1939 Benjamin Dec. 17, 1940 Krause -1--- Jan. 28, 1941 Lindgren Aug.12, 1941 Benjamin Oct. 21, 1941 Silver May 25, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTSCountry Date Great Britain Sept. 23, 1911

